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Castlevania |OT| A miserable little pile of episodes - Netflix 7/7

Arkeband

Banned
Episode 2:

<men just kicking each other in the nuts and yelling fuck>

Ah yes I remember this part of the Castlevania games!
 
God, this is so good. The animation is just a liiiiittle stiff but the artstyle is on point and the writing and voice acting is some of the best I've ever seen in an anime-type show (eastern or western). I'm really blown away. It really feels like the first truly great video game adaptation I've seen. What a brilliant idea to humanize the fuck out of Dracula in the first episode.

I'm only at the start of the third episode and can't believe this is halfway in. Feels like we're still in the prologue. I know there's another season with 8 episodes coming but I'm sure that won't be for another 9 months to a year. Can't imagine the next 50 minutes of show leading to a satisfying conclusion that justifies the break between seasons.

Is the reasoning for the short order of episodes that this was kind of an experiment? Man, I wish it were at least 6.
 

Ahasverus

Member
I've got a question for some of the more diehard Castlevania fans in here:
That opening sequence between Lisa and Dracula was never shown in any of the games, right? I know Lisa's execution scene appears via flashback in Symphony of the Night, but none of the games ever showed how she first met Dracula, right?

I ask because
some of the dialogue between Lisa and Dracula reminded me a little bit of some of the dialogue exchanges Alucard has with Maria, his own love interest apparently, in Symphony of the Night (namely the quips about being a gentleman).

Nothing really profound or anything, but it was a minor detail I noticed and thought was amusing.
Nope, you're right. The series seems to be taking canon ideas and expanding them.
 
Just finished episode two. The violence and dialogue is so over the top, I cant stop laughing. Which teenage edgelord wrote this show?

Strangely enough I do like it despite all its faults.
 

Nohar

Member
Well, that was surprisingly good. The first episode humanizing Dracula and showing us a side of Lisa we never saw is interesting (to be frank, it was necessary to set up the backstory, and it was done rather well). The last fight of episode 4 in particular was fun to watch: the guys showed some real skill (with Trevor pulling some sick moves with his whip), and
Alucard's shadow step and amazing sword skills were a delight to watch.

I'm genuinely pleased. They actually took the games' plot, expanded it, gave more characterization to the characters (well, some of them didn't have much in the first place) and made it work. The universe is pretty dark, and I wasn't expecting so much blood, guts and dead babies (literally. dead. babies). That was refreshing, and I'm impatient to see the new season if the animation's quality stays that way. I do wonder how the story will unfold though... I guess that with 3 main characters (with another one presumably joining them later) and giving more depths to demons, bosses (Death, namely, is a perfect secondary major antagonist, and an important figure of the Castlevania franchise) and side-characters (they could introduce the Librarian from Symphony of the Night), they can make this work (it would be kind of disappointing to just see them reach Castlevania and defeat the "monster of the episode" before moving on to the next boss in each episode).

DUAV6ij.png

... And now I want a remake of Castelvania III based on the anime. I'm not sure if I should be cursing you or not. I applaud your talent.
Well, for once, Konami did something good by green lighting this.
 

outsidah

Member
I had a great time watching it and can't wait to see season 2. Very nice surprise and highly recommend watching it even though this season is very short.
 

KarmaCow

Member
The dialogue was veered into edgelord cringe a little too often but I'll take that for more stuff like (ep4 spoiler)
the fight between Alucard and Trevor
.
 
Yeah, I own Castlevania 3 on 3DS but I think I'm going to try to play the japanese version instead since it's easier apparently and has a better soundtrack. I don't remember if I ever made it to the final level but I always go for the Alucard route since he's my fav and that's probably a bad decision.

Honestly I've only beaten the game with the help of the 3ds save state function. Being able to save right before the Dracula battle begins allows you to have a shot at beating it without being blinded by rage.
 
Because we never get adult oriented animation in this nature in the West and the aesthetic is close enough to a lot of anime to fool those who don't know any better.

Also they shouldn't skip straight to Rondo of Blood. After Trevor they should go to Simon and then to Richter.

Some DC animated films can have some pretty R-rated scenes.

The Dark Knight Returns
Joker going on a killing spree. Graphic depiction of people being shot.

Flashpoint Paradox
Diana kills kids on screen, among all the other graphic stuff.

Nothing compared to what we saw in Castlevania, but still stuff that can be pretty chilly even for adults.
 

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
Enjoyed this too!

Though sad given the direction, we won't get any seasons involving Patrick Stewart or Robert Carlyle :/
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Just realized that Lisa is referenced in SotN, the succubus dream sequence. (Replaying it now)

Still a phenomenal game, I would love to see the show get that far.
 

Amagon

Member
I'd been pronouncing Sypha Belnades wrong during my entire life and will continue to be wrong because saying Bel-nades instead of Bel-na-des is the only way.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Seeing a tall lithe shirtless beautiful guy with long blonde hair and a really long sword got me thinking of Sepiroth a couple of times and had me imagining what an FF VII show done in this nature would be like. Be still my heart.
 
I was not expecting this to be more Berserk than Berserk is at the moment. Shit got dark and horrific real quick. Amazing series, far too short.
 
Finished all four episodes. The lore and everything is excellent but its held back by garbage writing and voice acting. The fake accents are terrible.

Fight scene in ep 4 was dope. Really enjoyed that.
 

Retro

Member
Were The Seeks ever mentioned in the games?

Not that I've ever come across, though maybe there's some reference in a Japanese manual that I haven't seen the translation of. The story for Castlevania III is told pretty much through the opening intro and manual text.

Here's the American, European (German language) and Japanese manual scans.

And no, those aren't typos in the manuals; Sypha was male in all versions, and upon first freeing her the game actually asks "Take him with you?", but the ending shows a clearly female character and uses "she."
 

Burt

Member
Not that I've ever come across, though maybe there's some reference in a Japanese manual that I haven't seen the translation of. The story for Castlevania III is told pretty much through the opening intro and manual text.

Here's the American, European (German language) and Japanese manual scans.

And no, those aren't typos in the manuals; Sypha was male in all versions, and upon first freeing her the game actually asks "Take him with you?", but the ending shows a clearly female character and uses "she."

"Belmont Warrior Chromosomes"

"chances slimmer than Jim"

"fang sharpened freak"

aw yeah
 

Retro

Member
"Belmont Warrior Chromosomes"

"chances slimmer than Jim"

"fang sharpened freak"

aw yeah

I think the people who wrote game manuals back in the day were convinced nobody would ever read their work and tucked all sorts of ridiculousness in to fuck with the few kids who looked at 'em. That's the only way to explain the insanity that is Paula Abghoul and Fred Askare.
 
Good start, I really enjoyed these episodes but it felt so incomplete due to having only four, this season was basically a prologue.

I can definitely say this show got me in the mood to play more of the Castlevania series, it's a shame most of the games aren't available on current systems. Konami ought to release some kind of legacy collection that compiles the 2D titles for consoles/PC since alot of these games are confined to old systems and never got a proper rerelease.

A collection like that would greatly help people who want to get into the series without using emulation.
 

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Good start, I really enjoyed these episodes but it felt so incomplete due to having only four, this season was basically a prologue.

I can definitely say this show got me in the mood to play more of the Castlevania series, it's a shame most of the games aren't available on current systems. Konami ought to release some kind of legacy collection that compiles the 2D titles for consoles/PC since alot of these games are confined to old systems and never got a proper rerelease.

A collection like that would greatly help people who want to get into the series without using emulation.

Seriously, I want to play SOTN so badly. I'm surprised they haven't released anything on mobile either.
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Won't lie, I dug out my PS1 copy of Symphony of the Night today...this set off a Castlevania craving.
 
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